1 tablespoon ghee
1 teaspoon ginger puree
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon ground coriander seed
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
3 whole cloves
1 teaspoon turmeric
4 small potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 cups chicken broth

1 cup spinach, chopped
(optional) 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
3 tablespoons yogurt
salt and pepper

1. Heat ghee in a large pot with ginger, garlic, coriander, red pepper flakes, cloves and turmeric. Cook until fragrant.
2. Add potatoes to the pot with just enough chicken broth to cover. Bring to a simmer and cook until potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes.
3. Remove from the heat and stir in the spinach and cilantro, if using. Gradually incorporate the yogurt, teaspoon by teaspoon, until the sauce is creamy and slightly thickened. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve.

Makes 4 servings

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 small onion, sliced
2 red chilies, chopped
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon ginger puree
6 whole cloves
4 whole star anise
2 teaspoons turmeric
1 small cinnamon stick
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed
1-1/2 cups canned diced tomatoes, with juice
2 tablespoons brown sugar
salt

1. Heat olive oil with onions in a large skillet over medium heat. Continue frying until the onions are tender and browned, then add the chilies, garlic, ginger, cloves, star anise, turmeric and cinnamon stick. Fry for another minute.
2. Stir in the chicken breasts and tomatoes and cook uncovered until half the liquid has evaporated and the chicken is cooked.
3. Stir in enough brown sugar to bring out the flavor of the spices and make the sauce mildly sweet and season with salt to taste. Serve with rice, naan or potatoes.

Makes 4 servings

We went to this great Indian buffet for lunch today. For less than twenty bucks we both had our fill and then some. There was this one spinach dish I couldn't get enough of. No one else seemed to have any of it, and I only took a little bit the first time around. I almost cleared out the entire buffet insert by myself by the time we decided to leave it was so good. I titled this entry after the restaurant for making me crave some Indian flavors. Shannon hasn't been feeling too well since lunch, the spices are a little hard on her belly, but I was still in the mood for some curry, so I thought I'd experiment again. I wish I knew better names for dishes than Curried Chicken and so on, but I don't. It would definitely help me figure out if I like korma or Tandoori or tikka masala or biryani or whatever and how to actually create it. It's on my to do list.

I'm going to call the chicken dish Sweet Curry Chicken until I have a better name for it. It contains spices that we would typically use in baking, like cloves and cinnamon, that sort of give butter chicken its flavor. The difference is that I also added brown sugar to try and give it a sweet and fiery, but flavorful, sauce like the Jamaican Pulled Pork. The pork was definitely better, for several reasons, the main one being the meat. Had I used chicken thighs or something that would've stewed better and had more flavorful meat than the chicken breasts, this would have been better, but that's what I had in the fridge. Kind of funny to me really, since that's the most overpriced piece of chicken. The other factors that affected it being the lesser dish was the spice, I thought 2 red chilies could compare to a habanero and was so sorely mistaken, I really missed the heat, and that I was unable to really thicken the sauce as much as I'd like, so it never really coated the chicken pieces. All the same, this is definitely not a bad dish, the sauce was very good on its own, but I did not fully accomplish what I was going for.

Even though I've probably eaten several pounds of spinach already today, I thought I'd try a few alterations on a curious Curried Potato with Spinach recipe I found. I added some yogurt at the last minute to try and thicken the sauce, but even with the starch infused chicken broth, it was still a little runny. More spinach might've helped, but all the other things I've read, such as pureed beans, onions, nuts, rice or whatever to add at the last minute, are a bit timing consuming if you haven't planned them out for last minute additions. I missed the cilantro in this dish, which I still have trouble getting used to thinking about as a good thing, but it was pleasant enough. A mild curry flavor and the spinach was quite complimentary of the potatoes. Who knew?